Just a Table? ( A Christmas Blog )

They came to our door on Christmas morning, Alejandro and his daughter Angeline. Their faces shone with happiness as they sang to us the songs of Christmas that morning -years ago when we lived in the Philippines. As is customary there, when they were finished, we offered them a few coins I knew the family badly needed. "No ", Alejandro told us. "That is not why I sing for you today. It is our present to you, for you have helped bring us the Savior." Angeline smiled up at us. She now had her father and her father had his Father in heaven. It was one of the best gifts I have received for Christmas.

Those songs of thanks so long ago were rivaled this year by the smiling faces of a family.

Saba makes candies with his wife and later sells them on the busses in the evenings. Some days he works for the mission here. When he works for the mission he takes home a little over 10$ US per day, more than he makes selling candies. Although that sounds like very little, it is more than the going wage. To give you an idea of how far that goes here - it costs about 15% more for us to live here than at the same level in the USA.

As you enter the home where Saba lives with his wife and three daughters you notice the walls of unfinished block and a rough cement floor. There are only a few beds, a small rough table, a sink, a refrigerator and stove. You are graciously offered the only chair, made of plastic and partly broken.

For most, if not all, of you reading this, a table and chairs is something we assume a house will have. Indeed we have several and all are most likely taken for granted. For them to buy a table and enough chairs for the family would mean saving almost a months pay.

We showed up at their door the morning of Christmas Eve with a table and 6 chairs, our gift to them. "We no longer have to sit on the floor when we eat ", excitedly exclaimed Saba. "The children will have a place to sit and draw and do school work". As we sat around the table with them and chatted, their smiling faces and excited voices were rivals to the songs of Alejandro and Angeline for the best Christmas gift.